Park Ridge School District introduces new schedule for 2014-15

The Park Ridge School District will make a change in scheduling at East Brook and West Ridge elementary schools effective with the 2014-15 school year.

The announcement was made by Park Ridge Superintendent of Schools Robert Gamper in a letter to parents dated June 10.

According to the district, each school currently operates on its own schedule with regard to Special Area subjects, including music, art, technology, library, world languages and physical education. There are also differences in the instructional time students receive in core subjects, such as math and reading. The length of the school day is the same at both schools.

The new schedule has each school operating on a six-day rotation schedule of Special Area classes. The letter indicates that there will be a reduction in instructional time in those areas. Music, library and art students will attend three to six fewer classes during the school year. World languages classes will meet once a week instead of twice. However, class size will be reduced from 20 to 25 to nine to 10 and, according to the letter, will make it easier for teachers to differentiate instruction in French and Spanish.

The letter invited parents who had questions not addressed in the letter to attend their respective school's parent-teacher organization meeting that night, at which each principal would be present.

It wasn't long before opposition to the new schedule was voiced. In a June 11 email to Community Life, Amara Wagner, a Park Ridge parent, said she contends that the scheduling change will "drastically cut world language, PE, music and art education..." She went on to say, "This curriculum change was done behind closed doors, with no input from parents or community and no board vote."

In a telephone interview, Gamper said the new schedule was an administrative task and that board approval was not required. "After the administration was satisfied with the changes to the schedule and wanted to move forward with it, we met with the Elementary Advisory Committee, comprised of teachers from both schools and the principals and shared the proposed changes with them and gave them a week to provide input," he said. "The Board of Education's Education Committee - three board members and I - met to discuss the new schedule. Then, on June 2, we had a public meeting and the schedule was discussed with the full board." He said the board is supportive of the new schedule.

Once the new plan was finalized, it was shared with the teachers and principals. "The teachers now had their schedules for the coming school year," he said. "Then it was time to get the information to the parents," which was in the form of the June 10 letter that explained the changes and the rationale behind them, he said.

Gamper said the main advantage to the changes is that children in both elementary schools will follow the same schedule. "Children on both sides of town will receive similar education and spend similar amounts of time on the same subjects," he said. "Right now, that does not exists. Each school operates independently. Now there will be uniform schedule and education at both schools."

Gamper also addressed how a decline in enrollment in the primary grades influenced the changes. "This new rotation gives us the ability to accommodate fluctuations in enrollment. As enrollment declines, staffing needs change and this affects the special area teachers. With this new schedule, we can adjust the schedule as needed. With each school operating independently, it is very difficult to make any changes," Gamper said. "This is a uniform schedule we can build on."

Asked if he'd received any feedback from parents, he said he attended the PTO meetings. "I spent about 30 minutes at each one fielding questions. The majority of the concerns were about the decrease in time for special areas and World Languages," he said.

Despite the concerns, Gamper said he would not make changes to the new schedule. "I am not altering it," he said. "The decision has been made and is final."

On Friday, June 13, Community Life was made aware that a group of parents calling itself the "Coalition for Learning" is planning to attend the Monday, June 16 Board of Education meeting to voice their concerns about the new schedule.